I Wanna Find You There, I Wanna Hold On Tight
by starbaby12
Summary: It's senior year for the East High gang and Gabriella must return to fighting the battle with the infamous status quo! Can she be both an Einsteinette as well as head cheerleader! My first fanfic! Please give it a chance! Better then it sounds! TxG
1. Time of Our Lives

**Disclaimer: I don't own HSM whatsoever! Any characters I make-up are free for everyone to use! Please R&R! Thank you! **

_First day of senior year. Books, check. Book bag, check. New jacket, check._ Gabriella was checking over herself and didn't even see the wide open, pink locker and smacked right into it. "Watch it!" Sharpay Evans gave no sympathy to Gabriella's quickly bruising forehead.

"Not on my list." She murmured to herself rubbing her head. She sighed and walked further down the senior hallway in hopes of finding her locker and Troy Bolton. She moved her hand from her forehead to the large sterling silver 'T' that was hanging around her neck. She found locker 112 quickly, but no sign of Troy or any of his teammates. That was usual though, they were never early any other day of the year, why should today be any different. The neat freak inside her was taking her time organizing her locker when she heard a parade behind her. She turned around to see Troy and his buddies leading most of the senior class down the hallway. She couldn't help but smile at them. Gabriella and Troy made eye contact, and she thought he would quickly greet her, but instead he brushed passed her hitting her arm like he would to one of his teammates and continued on with his band of admirers. She didn't really care though. Troy gets slightly over the top sometimes, Gabriella had gotten used to it by now. The bell let out its warning and she started to her advanced calculus class. She went through the day only bumping into Taylor because of all of their AP classes together, but she had yet to see Troy again until lunch.

Gabriella was warmly welcomed by the basketball team as she placed her tray down at the table.

"Hey stranger! How's your day been?" Troy seemed thrilled to see her.

She quietly sighed. "Not bad, but it's going to be an overwhelming year."

"You and Taylor never cease to amaze me. I still can't believe that Troy and I tried to take you two on a double date you two didn't shut up about chemistry all night." Chad complained biting into his hamburger.

"Taught you a lesson, right?" Taylor playfully swatted Chad as she sat down next to him.

"So where were you this morning? I figured you would be right behind me." Troy asked Gabriella.

"I didn't want to be late, besides I hardly even got to say hi." Gabriella was slightly annoyed that Troy would just expect her to follow him and his posse wherever they went.

"Oh." She could tell he felt bad, but he also knew she didn't like the limelight like he did.

"So are you going to the tutoring center after school or are we going to your house?" Taylor asked Gabriella. Before she could answer, high squeaks and yelps came from the cafeteria doors. 11 cheerleaders burst through the doors holding flyers and throwing them about so that they landed on each table.

"Don't they usually have tryouts in the summer?" Gabriella asked as they read the flyer announcing tryouts Thursday after school.

"Yeah but Janette Smith transferred last minute, so they need to fill a spot." Zeke answered from across the table. They all gave him an odd look. "What? I sit next to the captain in History, she couldn't stop whining about it." The group burst into laughter.

"Man, that's too bad about Janette, she was always so supportive and not fake at all." Troy said. Gabriella remembered Janette. Not the brightest girl, but certainly sweet. The jocks idealized the cheerleaders almost as much as the cheerleaders idealized them. For Troy it was hard knowing he had one less fan.

"What's the rest of your schedule like Troy?" Gabriella quickly changed the subject.

"Free Period, World History, and Drama. How about you?" He answered shoving mashed potatoes into his wide mouth.

"Free Period, Gym, and Drama." She said unenthused. She dreaded dodge ball and capture the flag.

"At least we will have each other in gym class." Taylor said sympathetically.

"Lucky! I got to follow a huge mop of blonde around the track today." Kelsi scoffed looking up from her notes. Jason gently put his arm around her.

The warning bell let out its usual screech and they all parted ways for free period. The boys headed to the gym, Kelsi to the orchestra room, and Taylor and Gabriella to the chemistry lab.

The rest of the day crawled by and falling back into the usual school year routine, the boys stayed behind for practice and the girls headed to Gabriella's house, they decided to save the tutoring center for the next week when teachers actually started to give work and tests. They hadn't been home long when her mom came home with ingredients for dinner, which they all planned on staying for.

"So girls, how was the first day of senior year?" Ms. Montez asked while seasoning the chicken.

"Fine, a lot of homework already though." Gabriella replied, pouring four glasses of ice tea.

"That's no fun. Taylor, Kelsi, how about you? Any bad Sharpay run ins?" She chuckled to herself.

"Well besides the fact that I practically had to push her down the track, she would not stop talking about how she was about to be the newest Wildcat cheerleader." Kelsi rolled her eyes.

"The cheerleaders are having tryouts?" Ms. Montez looked up and quit seasoning.

"Yeah, one of them transferred last minute, so there is a spot." Taylor told her as she helped set the table. Gabriella caught her mother's eyes and opened hers wide hoping that Ms. Montez was not about to say what she was thinking. No such wish was granted.

"Well Ella, why don't you tryout? You certainly have enough experience." She suggested lighting up.

_No, Mom! Why would you say that in front of Taylor and Kelsi, the two most anti-cheerleaders in all of East High._

"Experience? What do you mean Ms. Montez?" Taylor asked even though her eyes were fixed on Gabriella.

"Oh Gabriella has been cheering since she was five. She started to do competitively around the age of twelve, but with us moving so much it was hard to commit to a team." Ms. Montez revealed and much to Gabriella's dismay she continued. "She has a great standing back tuck, and is an excellent flyer." Ms. Montez was getting very caught up in all of Gabriella's personal information.

"Mom! Stop!" Gabriella finally scolded.

"Gabriella, how come you never told us you cheered? We definitely wouldn't have bashed those airheads as much if we had known." Taylor laughed, hard to believe that the girl who spent most of her time either in the lab, library or in front of a computer could be a cutesy, ditzy, cheerleader.

"Because I didn't want to be an outcast in every group at school. If I had been a cheerleader the scholastic decathlon team wouldn't have even considered me, and vice versa. I had to pick one." Gabriella was frustrated, and didn't appreciate being placed in the particular stereotype of a cheerleader.

"Sorry Gabriella, it's dropped, promise." Kelsi assured her.

"Oh but Ella, you used to love cheerleading. I promise later on girls I'll show you her pictures." Ms. Montez whispered as she placed the chicken in the oven. Gabriella knew there was nothing she could do about her mom. She meant well, she just tended to get excited at times. As long as Taylor and Kelsi were the only ones that knew, she knew there was nothing to worry about.

By the time eight o' clock rolled around, Gabriella, Troy, Chad, Taylor, Zeke, Jason, and Kelsi had gathered in Gabriella's living room. The girls had promised Troy's dad that they would help tutor the basketball team, but since it was the first day, only Taylor and Gabriella had homework from their AP classes. Kelsi had piles of blank music sheets in front of her and every now and then she would tap her pencil against the coffee table and hum and then jot something down. The boys were watching the Cowboys game. Everyone seemed content in what they were doing until the halftime report came on and the doorbell rang. It was Chuck, Ms. Montez's new boyfriend who Gabriella was not fond of.

"Heya kiddos, how goes it?" He asked as Gabriella reluctantly let him in. The boys all high-fived him and Taylor and Kelsi were polite and said hello while Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Oh what a great game! I hurried over here as soon as I could, I just couldn't pull myself away." He shouted pointing at the TV. _Great, my mom is second fiddle to some dumb football game. You are such a meathead, Chuck. _

"Chuck, is that you? I'll be right down." Ms. Montez called from the top of the stairs.

"Alrighty darling!" He yelled back up to her. As if Chuck's obnoxious presence wasn't enough, Ms. Montez emerged down the stairs holding several dusty photo albums and set them on the third to last step.

"Alright kids have a good night, I'll be home around midnight Gabs, love you!"

"Night!" they all replied.

"Oh and girls I found those pictures I promised you. Enjoy!" With that Ms. Montez and Chuck were gone and Gabriella was shooting terrified looks and Kelsi and Taylor. The three raced to the staircase and seized the books, but unfortunately for them, the boys were quicker and grabbed the albums out of the girls' hands. After some playful chasing around the first floor, Troy stopped and opened the center of an album only to find a picture of Gabriella in a full stunt doing a heal stretch, decked out in an orange and blue cheerleading uniform.

"Who's this? Is this your mom?" He asked, knowing the real answer. Gabriella shook her head.

"No way Gabriella! You were a cheerleader?!" Chad screeched and Taylor elbowed him in the gut.

"C'mon guys, not a big deal. Look the game's back on." She tried distracting them, which was easy with Jason and Zeke but not Chad and especially not Troy.

"You never told me this." Troy looked slightly hurt that after all they had been through and were still trying to mend the patches in the road from the rocky summer, it was surprising that she would keep anything from him.

"Troy, that was a different me." She said calmly taking the album from him.

"But now you can take Janette's spot. We don't have to spend so much time apart our senior year and then you can come to all of my games." He said hopeful.

"Yeah right, Troy. I'm not like those girls, they would exile me." She stated. He knew there was a good chance that Gabriella was right. He also knew that if she were to become a cheerleader she would understand his world better, and they could finally have a real relationship.

"Promise me you'll think about it." Troy pleaded giving Gabriella his best puppy dog eyes.

"Okay Troy."


	2. Stick to the Status Quo

**I forgot to mention before, but all the chapter are going to be either lines from the movie or lines from songs! Hope you enjoy! **

Thursday came quicker then Gabriella had anticipated. Would she tryout after school or not? She had to talk to Taylor. Right before they headed to lunch she dragged Taylor into the gym.

"Gabs, what's going on?" Taylor was incredibly puzzled and obviously disgusted by the sweaty smell that oozed out of the gymnasium walls.

"Should I? Should I tryout Tay? Please help me decide." Gabriella couldn't believe that she was close to tears. She had been working out in her backyard the past couple days, she was a little rusty, but not as bad as she thought she would be. Also after looking through the albums her mom had dug out she realized how much she missed it.

"Do you want to do it?" Taylor was so matter of fact about the situation.

"I don't know. I want to do it for me, not for my mom and not for Troy, but that's what it feels like." Gabriella slumped down against the folded up bleachers.

"Gabriella, you know your mom is going to love you whether you are an Einstein-ette or the head cheerleader, and I think it's safe to say that Troy will too." Taylor smiled a contagious smile that Gabriella caught.

"I guess you're right."

"So, come on I'm starving." Taylor quickly stood up and then helped Gabriella up.

"I think I'm going to stay here and practice. It's the safest when everyone is at lunch. If anyone asks just tell them I am in the lab, no one will bother to look." Gabriella said.

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay with you?" Taylor asked. She didn't really want to and Gabriella knew that she was just trying to be a good friend.

"I'm sure. I work the best alone." The girls split in different directions, Taylor went to the lunch room and Gabriella to the locker room to change.

Gabriella returned to an empty gym and spread out several mats that had been stacked against the wall. She made sure she was well stretched out. She started to high kick, and then worked on her jumps. Her jumps were her strongest asset by far, her tumbling wasn't bad, it was her flying that she was worried about. She was too short to be a base or back spot, so flying was her only option. She had no way of practicing her basket toss or heal stretch without bases, so she decided to focus on her jumps and tumbling. She started with a couple round offs and cartwheels just to warm up her muscles. Then she went into her back handspring from a round off. She continued with her back handsprings and then once she felt like those were okay she moved on to front handsprings. She took a short break to stretch out again. Then it came her back tuck. Gabriella hadn't been able to do it that whole week she had been practicing, but might as well try it again. Round off, back handspring, stand, back tuck, bam! Gabriella landed flat on her back. She wasn't hurt, just frustrated. All of the sudden clapping came from behind the bleachers and vision of sparkles.

"That was real cute Montez, working on your circus act?" Sharpay sneered as she strutted towards Gabriella.

"What do you want Sharpay?" Gabriella's voice was shaking even though she was trying to be tough.

"Just for you to know that there is no way you are going to be making this squad." Sharpay was in her face now.

"Who said I was even trying out?" Gabriella began to fold up the mats.

"OH! So you're not?" Sharpay backed off a bit.

"I didn't say that either." Gabriella began to stack the thick, blue mats against wall, hoping she could just walk away from Sharpay. No such luck.

"Well, just so you know this is my year Montez! Last year was all beginners' luck. Don't count on your senior year being anything special." Sharpay turned and walked out of the gym while Gabriella continued to stack the mats. Just then the bell rang and she knew lunch was over and that the basketball team would be filing in the gym soon enough. She dashed to the locker room to change, thinking if she went fast enough she could just squeeze into the crowd of students heading to their free period locations. She made it out just in time to turn the corner and smack right into Troy. _Damn!_

"Hey, where have you been? I went to the lab, the library, the computer room, and you weren't there." He seemed more mad then concerned. _This is what I get for asking Taylor to lie, the story probably got blown way out of proportion._

"Well I was heading to the lab, but then I didn't feel well so I went to the nurse." She hated lying to Troy. His expression quickly dropped to fear.

"You're sweating, do you have a fever?" He put his hand to her forehead and then her cheek. His touch sent an instant tingle through her.

"No, no, I'm fine." She pushed him away and laughed.

"Okay, well I better get to practice. See you later?" He asked.

"Last period." She smiled. Troy left Gabriella feeling relieved and nervous at the same time. How could she not tell him?


	3. You Never Know, If You Never Try

It was the last period of the day and Ms. Darbus was rambling on about some dead playwright or poet. No one was paying attention, until the PA system came on and called her down to pick up a package in the office. As soon as she left everyone was talking and Troy practically sprinted to Gabriella's desk.

"So need to study tonight?" Gabriella asked him. If she said 'want' that would turn into a night of them getting completely off topic, 'need' at least sounded like they would get more accomplished.

"Can't, we have late practice tonight. The cheerleaders are having their tryouts right after school." Troy replied.

"Oh." Gabriella stiffened up slightly, but then realized she should be thankful he wouldn't be there watching.

"Dude, I was thinking about it, why don't we just stay and watch? We'll have practice as soon as they are done anyways." Chad piped up. _NO! NO CHAD! Why did you say that? Why?_

Taylor caught on to Gabriella's distress. "Ew Chad, you pig."

"Come too Tay. I promise I won't watch anyone but you." He said throwing his arms around Taylor and squeezing her. She giggled and nodded her head.

"Gabs you okay? You look kind of pale." Troy asked her.

"I'm fine." Before she had to make up an excuse, Darbus was back holding a huge box full of scripts for _Guys and Dolls_, which had been rumored to be her winter musical. The bell rang, and Gabriella found herself sweating in nerves. _Why was Troy coming to tryouts, why?_ _This is for me! Not him! Not Mom! Maybe I just won't go._ Gabriella was stuffing her book bag when another announcement came over the PA. "Would all varsity basketball team members please meet Coach Bolton in the weight room immediately! Immediately!" Click. _This is a sign, a sure sign that I have to tryout!_ Gabriella was slightly taken back by her luck. She decided not to get Kelsi and Taylor, that if she was going to try out she did not want any close friends at the tryouts, she would be way too nervous if they were there.

Once dressed, she joined 15 other girls who were trying out in the gym. No one but the present cheerleading squad and their coach, Wendy filled the bleachers. _Phew!_ Gabriella became excited, no longer nervous. First the girls were taught a cheer, which included sharp and quick motions and a toe touch. Gabriella caught on the fastest and felt pretty good about doing it by herself in front of the existing squad and coach, when they required each girl to do so. Sharpay was good also. Her long legs stretched so far, Gabriella was utterly impressed by the fact her toes touched the tips of her knuckles. _Wow, she wasn't kidding. Wonder why she never tried out before?_ Gabriella did not have time to search for answers concerning Sharpay's gymnastic abilities. The coach put Gabriella in a group with two bases, Laura and Christine, and a back spot, Missy. Laura took control. "Gabriella do you know how to do a prep? Or a full?" Laura asked.

"Both." Gabriella replied, she had figured out from Zeke that Laura was the squad captain; this could be a good or bad thing. They got to work, counting off and getting Gabriella into a full without much difficulty. She hadn't done it in so long that she surprised herself on how natural it came to her.

"Wow, you went up so easy!" Christine squealed once Gabriella was back on the ground. Laura didn't seem so easily impressed.

"How about a full lib? Or heal stretch?" Laura challenged.

Gabriella shrugged and smiled, "Both."

"Okay." Laura smirked and went to get the coach to come watch without the group even practicing first. Gabriella took a deep breath and shook out her wrists to get ready. She propped herself up on Laura and Christine's shoulders as Missy grabbed her ankle and without any hesitation she was up in a fully liberty. "Okay, now a heal stretch!" Laura called from the ground. Gabriella lifted her left leg up and let her fingers creep up to the top of her foot and pulled until her foot was almost touching the back of her head. "Cradle, 1, 2!" Missy called out and the three bases tossed Gabriella with extra force. She came down clean and ended face to face with Coach Wendy.

"Excellent Montez! Hit the mats." Wendy pointed to the mats that had recently been put out. Coach Wendy continued around to each stunt group and critiqued.

"Gabriella, have you ever cheered before?" Christine asked as she sat down and began to stretch along with Gabriella.

"When I was younger I used to compete, but that's all." Modesty was the best thing about Gabriella, she failed to mention the fact that every squad she was ever on made it to states every year.

"Well if you can tumble you will complete the cheerleader trifecta." Christine smiled. Gabriella decided to stick close to Christine, she seemed to be the most open minded one on the squad.

"I'm decent." Gabriella stretched just as she say Ryan Evans walk through the gym door. She waved and he smiled. She understood that he couldn't show that much support with Sharpay back spotting only a few feet away. Just then she saw Taylor and Kelsi walk in and wave at her. She waved back. She felt less nervous then she thought she would considering that they were there. As the other groups finished their stunting and came and sat in front of the mats, Laura went to the bleachers and pulled out a boom box. Coach Wendy stood in front of them.

"Alright ladies, this is your final task, I need to see your tumbling ability. It is not required to be on the squad, but it is always a nice asset. Laura will give you a brief example." Laura hit play on the boom box and out came a loud cheerleading mix. She did some clean round offs and a back handspring. _Phew, I can do that._ Gabriella let out a sigh of relief. Coach Wendy got down to Gabriella who was number 13 was the second person to get up and tumble, her nerves came back a little bit. She stood at the edge of the mat and took a deep breath. She started to bounce on her toes until she was in rhythm with the music and felt a burst adrenaline shoot through her body, and took off. Running start, round off, three back handsprings, round off, front handspring, quick pause, standing back…TUCK! She did it! Gabriella stood straight up and smiled. Every single cheerleader's jaw hit the ground along with the girls who were trying out. Coach Wendy had shut off the music, as she had done after the previous tumbler, and the gym was completely silent.

"DUDE! That's your girlfriend!" Jason's voice rang out. Gabriella turned around to see Jason pointing her out to Troy along with the rest of the Wildcat basketball team. Her face went red and she quickly went back to her seat next to Christine. She wasn't sure if she was more embarrassed by the fact that Jason had used the word 'girlfriend' before Troy had, or the fact that she hadn't told Troy that she was definitely trying out.

"I would say that you are a lot better then just decent." Christine whispered. Gabriella just smiled. The rest of the tryouts finished with Sharpay's tumbling act, that wasn't bad, but Gabriella was definitely better.

"Alright ladies, thank you so much for coming out today. You will be receiving a phone call tonight letting you know the results. Now if the current cheerleaders will head to my office, we can let the boys get to their practice." Coach Wendy announced. Gabriella went to help put the mats away when she noticed Sharpay hug Laura. _Interesting_. She also noticed Troy dragging out a rack of basketballs, she headed over to him.

"Hey you." Her voice was shaky.

"Hi." Troy replied coolly.

"Man, you're pissed huh?" Gabriella watched him take a shot and miss. This was a rare occurrence for Troy Bolton.

"I don't feel like talking right now Gabriella." He sneered. Gabriella knew she should have told him, but she felt like he could have been at least somewhat happy about it, after all he had practically begged her to try out.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you Troy, that's my fault but you don't have to be such a jerk." With that she stormed away, leaving him to miss an easy jump shot.


	4. I Get My Hopes Up and I Watch Them Fall

**Please keep reading and reviewing!! Hope you are all enjoying the story thusfar!**

Gabriella was sitting at her kitchen table when her cell phone began to jingle. Much to her disappointment, she answered the unknown number that she had hoped would be Troy.

"Gabriella, its Laura!" Laura's voice was suspiciously cheerful. Not the business-like tone she used during try-outs.

"I am so sorry to tell you that you did not make the squad. But Coach wanted me to tell you that there is always a possibility girls will drop before basketball season, and we may do tryouts again. We had to do that last year, but since you weren't here yet, I figured you wouldn't know." Laura carried on and Gabriella felt her stomach tie up into knots.

"Do you mind if I ask, who got the spot?" Gabriella asked, trying hard not to choke on her words. _Please not Sharpay, PLEASE NOT HER!_

"Sharpay Evans, she was the tall, blonde one." Laura described, as if Gabriella didn't already know who Sharpay was.

"Oh, well tell her congratulations, bye Laura." Before Laura even got one more word in Gabriella clicked off her phone. She was finishing up some math problems when she felt a large tear run down her cheek and watched as it plopped on to her homework. _You didn't even want to try out, you are not like those girls anyway. It's all for the better_. Gabriella shut her book and headed up to bed. All she wanted was for her mom to make her some tea and reassure her that everything happens for a reason. But unfortunately Mrs. Montez was out with Chuck. She thought about calling Taylor, but realized Thursday night was Chad night, actually most nights with Taylor were Chad nights. She crawled into bed, took a deep breath and picked up her phone. _Come on Troy, please pick up._ After several rings, Troy's voicemail answered. Gabriella hated talking to voicemails, she clicked off her phone and crashed into her pillow.

Gabriella woke up feeling fresh the next morning. She happily got into the shower and took the time to get ready. She knew it would be easier to get Troy to talk to her if she looked nice and had a little cleavage showing. She giggled to herself as she got dressed, this wasn't quite her style, but she was sure it would work.

"Ella! Breakfast!" Her mom called up to her. She finished sculpting her last curl and unplugged the iron. She walked downstairs to find a huge plate of pancakes sitting in front of Chuck. Her mood dropped about fifty percent of its perkiness.

"Morning kiddo! I made pancakes." _Chuck, quit trying to kiss my ass._

"Thanks, I just want juice though." She replied, selecting a jug from the refrigerator.

"Ella, when do you find out about the squad?" Her mother asked.

"The captain called me last night, Sharpay got the spot." Gabriella choked back the lump that formed in her throat.

"Aw, bummer kiddo!" Chuck said sympathetically.

"I don't really care that much." Gabriella spat. "I gotta get going." She grabbed her car keys and headed out her front door. _Don't let Chuck bother you, you were in a great mood when you first got up._ She was getting into her car just as Troy's rusty pick-up pulled in the driveway. _This day is already getting better._ Gabriella collected her books and bag and happily sprinted to the passenger side door.

"Hey you!" Troy gave her a weak smile. _Okay, maybe you are a little too perky._ They took the usual route to school in silence. "C'mon Troy, talk to me." She pleaded fiddling with her "T" necklace.

"Gabs, we can't keep stuff from each other. I really wish you had told me that you were going to try out." His blue eyes were hurt.

"It was a last minute decision. Yes I was going back and forth about it, but it was something I had to do for me. It's not like I was leaving you out." She tried to reason.

"Please, just don't do it anymore. We've been through so much Gabs, I don't want to mess it up again." Troy smiled at her as he pulled into the school parking lot.

"No worries Troy, I didn't even make the squad." She surprised herself by giggling at the comment.

"WHAT? How do you know?" Troy shut off the engine in disgust. He had just watched Gabriella yesterday, she was better then anyone else there, even better then some of the current cheerleaders.

"Laura called me last night. Sharpay got the spot, which is fine. She fits in better with that group anyways." He couldn't believe how relaxed she was. He had only seen her cry once, and that was when she had quit Lava Springs, and had almost quit Troy. He still thought that she would've been a little more upset.

"That's bullshit, Gabs! You deserved that spot!" Troy banged his fist against the steering wheel.

"Troy, please don't get upset, I already did last night." She admitted, lightly touching his arm. He remembered being in his living room watching game tapes with his dad and hearing his phone ring upstairs. He ignored it because he didn't want to talk to anyone anyways. _She needed me last night, and I just blew it off because I was mad at her. Some guy I am!_

"Sorry I didn't call you back Gabs." He looked at her, feeling so bad for her.

"Not a big deal Troy." She smiled.

"Gabs, I think there is something else we should talk about. What Jason said yesterday in the gym. I—" Just as Troy was about to commit everything to Gabriella there was a bang on his window. _Leave it to Chad._

"Hey you two, no making out at school!" Chad laughed. Troy and Gabriella both emerged from the truck. Gabriella was blushing because she hadn't kissed Troy since their last night at Lava Springs.

"Take your own advice!" Troy growled as Taylor came up behind Chad and planted a kiss on his cheek. Just then Sharpay glided by in a crisp red and white uniform, her hair high and bouncy, tied up with a red bow, and clean white cheerleading shoes guided her through the doors of East High. She didn't notice as Troy, Chad, and Taylor all gaped at her and then all turned to Gabriella.

"I know! Who knew that Sharpay would ever wear a shoe that wasn't at least three inches high!" She laughed at her own joke.


	5. A Second Chance, Gotta Grab It and Go

**A Second Chance, Gotta Grab It and Go**

Troy was tapping his pencil against the opened crease of his math textbook. He had gotten in lost in the lesson about fifteen minutes prior to the moment. He was more interested in ways that he could make Gabriella feel better. _The weekend is coming, maybe a rollerblading trip in the city park, or just a movie and ice cream afterwards._ These thoughts were abruptly interrupted when a folded piece of paper landed on his tapping pencil, and was thrown off beat. He looked next to his left where Chad was sound asleep. He turned to his right and saw Christine Jacobs, a cheerleader, looking at him. He had noticed Gabriella talking to her a lot during the tryouts, unusual for the shy brainiac that she was. _Probably a pity note for Gabriella._ He carefully unfolded the paper.

**Troy-**

**Why did Gabriella turn down the squad? I wanted her on it so bad! Laura said we aren't suppose to talk to her about it, but I really want to know why! I promise not to say a word to anyone!**

**-Christine**

Troy wrote back.

**Christine-**

**I have no idea what you are talking about.**

**-Troy**

"Mr. Bolton is there something that you and Ms. Jacobs would like to share with the entire class." The math teacher was suddenly right in between Troy and Christine's desk. Even Chad was wide awake. The bell let out its relieving sound, and the teacher glared as Troy and Christine dashed out of the classroom.

"Troy, what do you mean you don't know? Didn't Gabriella tell you about the squad?" Christine asked once in the hallway. She had lowered her voice so no one caught her breaking the rules enforced by the cheerleading captain.

"Gabriella told me that she didn't make it, but that Sharpay did." He was becoming more confused by the second.

"Laura told us that when she called Gabriella last night, Gabriella refused the spot. Sharpay was next in line." Christine was just as confused as Troy had been.

_She lied! Why would she lie to me!_ Troy was becoming heated. "I really don't know what to tell you Christine, but I gotta go." Troy mumbled and turned away from Christine's gleaming Wildcat uniform and stormed off.

"Yum! Chili cheese fry day!" Gabriella exclaimed as she set her lunch tray down in between Taylor and Troy. Her day had been decent, minus a couple awkward looks from some cheerleaders, but she tried her best to ignore it. Then she noticed that her entire table was staring at her intently. "Is there something on my face?" She giggled nervously.

"How about how you tell us all how you lied Gabriella?!" Troy stood as he snapped at her.

"What are you talking about?" She was so puzzled.

"The cheerleading squad Gabriella! You turned it down and then _lied_ about it! How could you?!"

"Dude, people are staring." Chad tried to calm his friend down as Zeke forced him to sit back in his seat.

"Troy, I can't believe you are accusing me of lying, after our talk this morning. Don't you know me at all?" Gabriella felt hurt. She abandoned her once appealing lunch and stomped out of the cafeteria with Taylor and surprisingly Christine and Missy at her heals.

"What an ass!" She screamed once safely out of Troy's earshot. Her hurt had quickly shifted to pure anger.

"Wait we are really confused. Laura told us that you turned down the spot. She said you wanted to focus on your schoolwork. So we gave it to Sharpay, she was our second choice." Christine told Gabriella.

Before Gabriella could speak, Taylor stepped in front of her. "Girls, just so you know, Gabriella was debating on whether or not she even wanted to try out. So when she did, she wanted that spot, she had no intention of turning it down." Gabriella nodded her head in agreement. Before she knew it, Christine and Missy had each taken her by a hand and were dragging her down the hall to the history wing where Coach Wendy's classroom was.

"COACH! Gabriella wants on the squad!" Missy burst into the classroom. Coach Wendy jumped in her seat. "She never turned down the spot!"

"Girls! Calm down!" Coach Wendy rose from her desk. "Gabriella, I was informed that you no longer wanted to be on the squad, which is perfectly fine. No one was offended, but now that that spot has been filled, we can't give it back to you." Coach Wendy said gently.

"Coach Wendy, I was never offered the spot." Gabriella said calmly and then continued. "Last night Laura called me and said I didn't make the squad. I'll admit I was upset, but I figured you had good reason so I wasn't going to challenge anything. I promise you that's the truth."

"Look Gabriella, you seem like a good kid and a hard worker. It was actually hard for me to believe that you turned down the spot when I got the call last night." Coach Wendy started, but then Christine interrupted her.

"Wait Coach, what time did Laura call you last night?" Christine could smell a rat.

"Oh I don't know a little bit after we were done with dinner, around 7:30 I believe." Coach Wendy was now more puzzled then ever.

"Gabriella do you have your phone?" Christine held out her hand. Gabriella caught on to Christine's mission and handed over her phone. Christine quickly checked the received calls list. "I knew it! She didn't even call you until ten last night! Coach, can Gabriella please be on the squad? She really wants it!" Christine protested. _Man this girl is persistent._ Gabriella nodded her head. Missy pleaded with her huge sapphire eyes.

"Girls, it seems as though I have a huge mess to clean up. But Gabriella, you were the first pick for the squad, so I would like to formally extend an invitation to the East High Varsity Cheerleading squad." Coach Wendy smiled so kindly at Gabriella.

"Thank you Coach Wendy, I accept." Gabriella could hardly contain her excitement.


	6. School Pride, Let's Show It!

**Hey guys, sorry this has taken so long to post! I tried to make it longer and more Troy & Gabriella! I plan on envolving the other characters more in future chapters, don't worry! This is just the beginning! Please continue to read and review!! I promise the next chapter will be up faster!**

"Troy Bolton, you ass!" Taylor furiously approached the lunch table after discovering the set-up. She had waited outside Coach Wendy's room to find out what exactly was going on with Gabriella. She had overheard the entire conversation, and felt her blood boiling with anger for Troy.

"What, like she was going to eat them?" Troy looked up from Gabriella's deserted chili cheese fries.

"Do you even know why Gabriella was thinking about _not_ trying out for cheerleading? Because of _you_! She wanted to do it, but she was feeling so much pressure from you that it was discouraging her. And as for your band of cheerleaders, they went against her and lied to her and their coach! Go Wildcats!" It was Taylor's turn to make a scene and then storm out of the cafeteria. Every cheerleader looked shocked and people began to whisper. Laura was not in lunch that day and thankfully neither was Sharpay.

Troy dropped his head in his hands. "Damn." He whispered. Jason put a hand on his shoulder. "Troy, you going to finish those?" Jason pointed to the fries. Troy got up and ran out of the lunchroom. He had to fix things and fast.

"Gabriella! Gabriella!" Troy's voice bounced off the walls of the East High halls. No response. He kept running down corridor after corridor. Then he heard her voice along with two unfamiliar ones. He found her outside the cheerleading coach's room with Christine Jacobs and Missy Adams. She had changed from her jeans and blue tee shirt into a red and white cheerleading uniform. He was no longer worried but just smiled and stared at her. _She looks gorgeous._ The uniforms were new that year and Gabriella wore it well. She looked complete in her straight red skirt with three pleats on the left side and her red shell with diamonds meeting from either side of the top outlined in white. **WILDCATS** was printed dead center across her chest. Gabriella had pulled her hair up high and tight and tied a red bow in it. She even had on white socks with red lines circling the rims. Her shoes didn't match Missy and Christine's cheerleading shoes because they were old ones she had decided to wear that morning, to make her remember all the good times she had had cheerleading. She was laughing as Christine and Missy admired her outfit. Coach Wendy emerged from the room handing Gabriella a small red duffle bag, red and white pom-poms, and large white sweater with a giant red 'E' on the front. _There you go Bolton, you got what you wanted. Now she's probably not even talking to you. Can you blame her?_ The bell rang and Missy and Christine were guiding Gabriella in the opposite direction.

* * *

"Come on Troy! Cheer up dude." Chad was patting his friend on the back as they turned in their tickets at the first home football game of the year. Troy was not into the wildcat spirit that night though. He dug his hands into his oversized letterman jacket.

"She won't talk to me. I've been trying to call her all afternoon." Troy sighed as they headed to the home stands.

"She's probably coming with Taylor, chill out." Chad rolled his eyes at his best friend. _For as much as he freaks out about Gabriella, you'd think they were a couple by now._

"Nope, she's not with me." Taylor and Kelsi came up behind them, overhearing the previous conversation. Troy looked out at the field and somberly watched the football team warm up. Shrieks and yelps came from the sidelines, but the cheerleaders were the last thing on Troy's mind. Before he knew it, Zeke had grabbed a hold of Troy by the collar of his jacket and was pointing at something in the air. Troy looked around at all of his friends whose jaws had dropped and they were all staring at the exact same thing; Gabriella. Christine, Missy, and Sharpay were all beneath her as she did a perfect aerobesc in the air. She smiled and pointed right at Troy. He felt himself blush. "DUDE! That's your-" Kelsi quickly covered Jason's mouth before he could finish his sentence. Troy found himself not even paying attention to anything else but Gabriella. She could flip, she could jump, and she stole the attention away from every other cheerleader. _She's so incredible._ The cheerleaders jumped and yelled at the end of the game, which East High had won. Gabriella happily joined in as the football players ran through their cheerleader tunnel and then followed them into the school.

Christine grabbed Gabriella's hand as they tried to keep up with the boys who were filing into the back door of the building, "Did you have fun Gabriella?" she yelled still in her cheering voice.

"So much fun!" Gabriella replied with a wide smile.

"Oh my gosh Gabriella, Troy Bolton could not keep his eyes off of you!" Missy squealed as she caught up with Christine and Gabriella. Gabriella blushed and giggled.

"Oh girls that's nothing new!" Sharpay came up behind them, just as cheerful. _Why is she supporting this? I thought she wanted Troy? She truly just sounded genuine._ The girls made their way to the girls' locker room to collect their things. They ran into Laura, waiting next to Gabriella's gym locker. Coach Wendy had temporarily suspended Laura from the squad and took away her captain title. Sharpay had learned mostly through rumors that she was second choice and offered to give up her spot, but Coach Wendy didn't see that as fair, and decided that Sharpay could stay on the squad. "Hi girls." Laura said weakly. _This girl went from lion to lamb in just one day._ Christine, Missy and Sharpay all gave an awkward greeting and Gabriella said nothing. She wasn't one for fights, so she just decided to avoid Laura at all costs. "Gabriella, do you mind if we talk in private?" Laura's hands were in her jean pockets, but she was still shaking nervously. Gabriella glanced at Missy, Christine, and Sharpay who were giggling over a note one of them had found in their locker.

"I guess that's okay." Gabriella smiled. _What do you have to loose? You're the one that still gets to cheer, not her. What more harm could she cause you?_ Laura led Gabriella into the back of the locker room.

"I know I have to apologize to you, but I also know you won't believe me when I say that I'm sorry for what I did." Laura started in one breath. _That's a typical cheerleader thing. _

"Laura, I'm sure you are sorry." Gabriella cut in. "I just don't understand why you did it."

"Are you serious?" Laura looked up at Gabriella no longer shaking, but back to her business-like-cheerleader-captain voice. "You have hardly been here a full year Montez and you have this school wrapped around your finger."

"That's hardly the truth Laura. I'm sorry that you think that." _Wait, why am I apologizing to her?_

"Hardly the truth? Guys at East High used to fight over us cheerleaders, and now they are lining up to date the National Honor Society? Don't tell me that you didn't have a lot to do with all of that." _This is like Sharpay's evil twin, and that's a difficult job to fill._

Gabriella decided to ignore the dating comments. "That still doesn't make any sense why you didn't want me on your squad."

"I didn't want Sharpay on it either, but I could only control one fate at a time. If you weren't on the squad maybe things could get back to normal. And at least Sharpay would fit in with us better." This was all shocking to Gabriella. _Some apology._

"You are acting like I took something from you! You are the one who made a mistake and messed up things right now." Gabriella felt sass in her voice, something that she really didn't intend on doing.

"You developed this whole new East High. Before you came, guys like Troy Bolton cared about basketball, and only basketball, and now if your hair is out of place he is first in line to help you fix it!" _Troy of course, that's what it always comes down to with some of these girls._

"Laura, I really don't have time for this, but I really hope you return to the squad soon." Gabriella knew that when all else failed, to use the kill em' with kindness method. She proceeded back to her gym locker and took out her red duffle that she had received earlier that day. She watched Laura stalk out of the locker room, not before flipping Gabriella the bird. Gabriella just rolled her eyes. _You can't be everybody's friend._ She noticed that Christine and the others had left already. _Damn, I need a ride, even if it had to be from Sharpay._ Gabriella was walking out of the locker room and looking down at her phone that was out of service. When she looked up she saw the end of the hallway crowded with Jason, Kelsi, Zeke, Taylor, Chad, and Troy.

"Gabriella!" Taylor screamed. She was the first to notice that Gabriella was coming towards them. Before she knew it, Gabriella was mauled with hugs and 'I didn't know you could do that!' and 'How do you bend like that?' She just giggled at her friends as they led her out of the school building. There were a few football players' parents hanging around outside, but otherwise the warm Albuquerque night was filled with the seven friends' voices.

"Can we eat, I am starving!" Chad whined.

Gabriella was about to nod in agreement when she felt a warm hand in hers. She turned just in time to hear Troy whisper, "Gabriella, come with me." She was still slightly mad at him from earlier that day, but he had smiled at her throughout the game. _Oh man those eyes. How could I be mad at those eyes?_ They tore themselves away from the group.

"Hey you guys we're going to Pizza Mama! Come on guys it's this way." Clueless Jason was shouting after them. Kelsi and Zeke pulled him away, assuring him that Gabriella and Troy would be there eventually. "I just don't want them to starve." Jason said, looking out for his friends.

Even though they had taken the long way to Pizza Mama, they hadn't said a word the entire walk. Troy finally spoke up. "So, you were really good at that cheerleading…stuff." He was tense and Gabriella could tell, so she giggled.

"Thanks. Did I ever tell you that you're really good at that basketball…stuff?" She mocked him and got him to smile. "S-M-I-L-E! I got Troy to smile for me!" She cheered. He burst into laughter.

"Oh no Gabriella, we've created a monster." His laugh was contagious and Gabriella started to giggle uncontrollably. She sat on the sidewalk, holding her stomach. He sat down next to her and he had stopped laughing. He stared into her friendly brown eyes. "Gabs," He was serious, she could tell. Gabriella stopped laughing.

"I'm really sorry for how mad I got at you and—" She put her finger to his lips.

"Shh. Troy, it's fine, I understand." She smiled. She was willing to forgive him because all she could think about was kissing him. He grabbed her finger and took her hand. He started to lean into her when a loud thud came from behind them. A guy in blue letterman jacket landed near them. Gabriella jumped up and dropped Troy's hand and he followed suite. They looked up to see Chad, Zeke and Jason fighting with two other boys, also wearing the same jacket as the fallen victim. "Damn!" Troy bolted into the restaurant to try and break up his friends and what appeared to be West High jocks. Gabriella looked down at the boy on the concrete, he was carefully helping himself up.

"Are you okay?" She didn't like to see anyone intentionally hurt even if this kid was from the rival high school.

"Oh yeah, I'm peachy." He said sarcastically as he finally stood up. She couldn't help but giggle. "Hey that's a cute little laugh you got there." He started to limp towards her. _Hmm, he's a little creepy._ She noticed he was eyeing her uniform and she started to back up towards the restaurant. "You're an East High cheerleader? Man, I think I would've remembered you." He stopped walking towards her and that put her at ease. _He was probably just trying to walk off his pain._

"I just joined the squad." She smiled. "Are you sure you're okay?" She said pointing to his right side that he was still clenching.

"I don't think this is a band-aid kind of injury." He said walking towards her again. She laughed and then realized he was right in her face. "But it's not something that a little kiss from a pretty cheerleader couldn't fix." She ducked as he leaned into her. He grabbed her by her shoulders to steady himself. She felt bad.

"Sorry, that's not what I meant when I asked if you were alright." She apologized.

"To bad it's what I meant." He grabbed her and she jerked her head as he yanked her into him. He smudged his lips against her cheek and neck just as she raised her knee and got him right in the groin. She turned right into Troy's arms. His pulled her into his chest and then gently pushed her into Chad. Everyone was outside now. Chad had a fat lip and Zeke's eye was quickly swelling shut, but the West High guys looked worse off.

"Don't you ever touch her again!" He pointed at the guy who was still holding himself and moaning in horrific pain. Gabriella freed herself from Chad's grasp and pulled Troy back to her. The West High jocks were running off and there was no need to keep stirring the pot. He pulled her in again, not letting her go.

"Uh, we'll leave you guys alone." Chad smiled and motioned his friends to the restaurant parking lot.

Troy cradled Gabriella's face in his hands. "Gabs I'm so sorry I left you out here, I wasn't even thinking!" He was yelling, but mainly because he was angry at himself, not anyone else, especially not at Gabriella. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" She calmly took his hands off her face and into hers.

"I think I did more damage to him." She laughed, feeling pretty proud of herself. _I can protect myself, and that wasn't even my high kick!_ She started to lean up to kiss Troy, but he pulled back.

"Let's get you home Gabs."

**The more reviews, the faster the next chapter will go up! So get to it! Thank you! (:**


	7. You Know the World Can See Us

**Please keep reading and reviewing!! Like I said the chapters will go up faster the more reviews I get! Oh, and I promise Troy and Gabriella get together, but I love building the suspense!**

Gabriella couldn't sleep that night. She had come home to an empty house, and all she wanted to do was call Troy and ask him to come over. Their walk home had been completely silent though. He had mumbled good night and left her on her doorstep. She was up at seven, showered, and ready for whatever that Saturday was ready to bring her. By ten o'clock she had done all of her laundry, made herself breakfast, and finished her homework. _What the hell am I supposed to do now?_ Just then her phone vibrated and played a familiar jingle. She flipped it open to reveal a text message. **Cheerleading meeting at my house in an hour. –Christine. **Just then Gabriella's doorbell rang. She bounded down the stairs and opened her front door to reveal a vibrant shade of pink. "Sharpay! How did you even know where I lived?" Gabriella was shocked to see Sharpay on her doorstep.

"Oh well, last night when we left the locker room Christine was saying something about a meeting at her house, and I wanted to make sure you knew." Sharpay was uncomfortable, and Gabriella could tell she was trying hard to be nice since they were both cheerleaders now.

"Thanks Sharpay, do you want to come in?" Gabriella opened her door wider for the tall blonde to enter. She led her into the kitchen and handed Sharpay a water bottle from the fridge. Sharpay perched lightly on one of the Montez's bar stools and looked around the kitchen.

"Sharpay can I ask you something?" Gabriella was feeling brave.

"Can I really say no to something like that?" Sharpay snipped.

Gabriella took in a deep breath. "You're a really good cheerleader." Sharpay beamed at the compliment, but let Gabriella continue. "Why didn't you try out before?" Sharpay set down her water bottle and swallowed her most recent sip.

"Laura." She looked down at her nails. Gabriella had noticed they had been trimmed short, most likely for cheerleading.

"That's not an answer." Gabriella realized she may have just pushed her luck.

"Laura is a nice way of saying bitch." Sharpay snapped. "She made my life hell when we were younger. We were always competing in our dance classes and when I got a solo in one of our recitals she pushed me out of the way and finished my solo! _My solo!_" Sharpay took a swig of water. _Hold a grudge much?_ "When we got to high school I didn't want to deal with that again, so I decided to put my dancing skills to the stage and let her try out for cheerleading." Sharpay folded her hands as if to say _end of story,_ Gabriella didn't get that message.

"So why now? And was with that hug at try-outs?" Gabriella didn't know when to shut up.

Sharpay sighed and rolled her eyes, even though she really didn't mind talking about herself as long as she got to be the damsel in distress. "I had always wanted to cheer, and I always got discouraged by Laura. When this opportunity came, I knew I had to take it. As for that hug; my dear Gabriella, don't you know what a pity hug is when you see it? I was sure I hadn't made the squad when I got one of those from Laura. And I still really didn't even make it." Sharpay said.

"Sharpay, you are a great…no, no, amazing cheerleader! You shouldn't let someone like Laura put you down like that." _How could someone as fierce as Sharpay be so intimidated?_

"Gabriella, either you are to naïve or to stupid to realize it, but not everyone is a good person." Sharpay said sympathetically. Gabriella shuddered at her words, mainly at the playback in her mind of last night and that boy from West High attempting to kiss her. _I do let my guard down pretty easily._

"Well Laura says I ruined East High if it makes you feel any better." Gabriella offered and Sharpay laughed. "She just thinks that Troy likes me. I didn't even know she liked Troy."

"It's not that she likes Troy, Gabriella. She likes the attention and she needs it from every direction." Sharpay said in a very matter-of-fact tone and checked her big flashy watch. "Come on, I'm driving. Let's get going. H-U-S-TLE!" She cheered. Gabriella giggled and just as she was thinking Sharpay was not that bad of a person, she was whacked in the face with massive amounts of blonde strands. Sharpay had whipped around quickly and informed Gabriella that 'Laura was dead wrong about Troy Bolton.' "Huh?" Gabriella seemed puzzled.

"You know about him liking you, he doesn't." Sharpay smirked and Gabriella's face fell. She felt a lump in her throat and her stomach tying up into knots. "He loves you." Gabriella ran to hall bathroom and vomited.

* * *

"So let me get this straight," Chad was putting all the pieces together of the conversation he had just shared with Troy. They were in Troy's backyard, sweat beads dripping off of their bare chests, shooting the basketball repeatedly into the hoop. "Gabriella gets attacked by some guy, some West High guy, _the_ Jimmy Cooper to be exact, and you can barely comfort her?" Chad was annoyed by all of this. It was so obvious how much Troy and Gabriella liked each other, he couldn't understand why Troy was trying to blow it, especially with all of his recent actions. Troy just nodded and went up for a lay-up which he missed.

"Gabriella wasn't attacked. She can take care of herself." Troy said defensively.

"Is that why you are trying so hard not to be with her then?" Chad felt like Dr. Phil rather then Troy's best friend.

"Dude, what the hell are you talking about?" It was Troy's turn to look at his best friend in confusion. _Chad sure doesn't know me as well as he claims he does._

"I'm talking about how hard you push her away. She didn't know if she wanted to be a cheerleader or not, and all we hear about is how bad you want her to do it." Chad pointed out.

"So?" Troy retorted, again missing another shot.

"So she makes it and you yell at her for it!" Chad stated. _Why didn't I have this conversation with Jason?_

"I thought she had lied to me Chad! I'm only human, I'm allowed to make mistakes." Troy threw the ball hard at his friend who reacted quickly and caught it.

"Okay, fine Troy. So tell me what she did that was so terrible that you couldn't kiss her last night?" Chad knew there could be no reasonable explanation and that he had backed Troy into a corner.

"Chad, all I want to do is make sure Gabriella doesn't get hurt." He had stopped shooting the basketball and was talking in his most serious voice. "Last night, she proved that she doesn't need me to protect her. I want to take care of her, but I don't know if she wants that from me. I couldn't kiss her with the thought that one of us could get hurt." Troy explained. Chad started to laugh.

"That's weak dude. Do you think that she would still wear that necklace you gave her if it didn't mean something to her? You've really done it now Bolton." Chad was dead right, and Troy knew it.

* * *

"Gabriella, are you…uh…okay?" Sharpay asked as Gabriella emerged from the bathroom. Sharpay had heard Gabriella's puking episode and had a hard time controlling her own gag reflexes, there was absolutely no way she was going to check on her until she knew she was done being sick.

"Yeah, sorry you had to hear that Sharpay." Gabriella felt embarrassed and if she wasn't so pale from her recent hurling act, Sharpay was sure she would have been beat red.

"Does the name Troy Bolton always make you yak?" Sharpay asked impatiently.

"No! I think I just ate some bad cereal or milk or something this morning." Gabriella lied, surprisingly sounding very convincing. _That's never happened before. Why did I get so upset over the fact that Troy may or may not like me?_

"Oh bummer. Well do you still feel ok to go to Christine's, we should probably get going like now." Sharpay's tone was becoming irritated.

"Yeah, for sure." Gabriella grabbed her house keys and cell phone and followed Sharpay outside where her pink convertible was taking up the entire driveway. They got in and left, just as Chuck's shiny off-white Cadillac was pulling up to the house, and Ms. Montez was riding shot-gun.

Thirteen very chatty, very enthused teenagers were sitting in Christine Jacob's living room. Gabriella was cross-legged on the floor next to Missy who couldn't stop talking about her new shampoo. Gabriella smiled politely, but truly didn't care that Missy's hair had ten times more volume then it did before. She noticed Sharpay sitting in an arm chair across the room. She kept looking at her watch. _She's in no rush, she's probably just annoyed that no one is talking to her._ In the middle of Gabriella's thoughts, Coach Wendy arrived.

"Okay ladies settle down. Look I know you all know about our little situation with Laura." The original cheerleaders looked from Gabriella to Sharpay. Sharpay rolled her eyes and Gabriella looked down and picked at the shaggy carpet. "But I just want you to know that I have spoken with Laura and I am willing to give her another chance to be a part of this squad _eventually_. She will continue to come to practices and sit in the stands at games, but she understands that she has a lot to prove to all of us in order to cheer again. Also, she has lost the privilege of being captain, so I would like you all to vote on a new leader now, please." Christine found a pad of paper and a couple pens. Girls tore of pieces of paper and began to scribble names. Gabriella didn't write anything on her scrap. She didn't think that it was fair after only being on the squad for one day that she should vote. Coach Wendy noticed her blank paper. "Gabriella, it's okay, you are a part of this team now." Coach Wendy whispered. _Was she a mind reader, or am I that obvious?_ Gabriella scribbled down **Christine** on her paper and folded it up.

"Okay girls, I will let you know at Monday's practice who the new captain is." The girls all groaned. "But there is one more thing we need to discuss, the Knight-Cat war." All the girls became very wide-eyed and Gabriella looked around for some type of explanation. _Huh?_ "I have already heard of some of the boys planning out pranks or stunts, and I just don't want any of you involved. It used to be all in good fun, but the past couple years it has become more dangerous." _Why does everyone know exactly what this woman is talking about? I am so out of the loop!_ "I was informed that last night some of our Wildcats caused a disruption at a local restaurant, and I can only hope that you girls were not there." They all shook their heads and Gabriella bit her bottom lip. "Well girls this meeting is over, feel free to stay and have some lunch, right Christine." Christine nodded and most of the girls jumped up and headed for the kitchen. Gabriella reached out and grabbed Missy before she could leave her.

"Missy, what's a Knight-Cat war?" She whispered.

"Gabriella! Are you serious? You have never heard of the famous Knight-Cat war?" Missy yelped. Gabriella shook her head and more girls filed back in the living room with plates of pizza. "The Knight-Cat war happens every football season, up until both schools have had their homecoming. We pull pranks, toilet paper houses, write on cars, it's usually just fun mischief. I guess recently since our school started kicking them out of sports, violence has become an added factor." Missy shrugged.

"You're lucky though Montez." Spoke up a cheerleader who was sitting on the couch, Gabriella was sure her name was Anna.

"Why am I lucky?" Gabriella was confused, but at least the events of the previous night were starting to make sense.

"Because no one from West High knows where you live. Once they find out your house will get trashed for sure. My dad gets pissed every year around this time because he knows he'll be hosing down shaving cream off the cars." She giggled.

"I wonder who got in the fight last night?" Another cheerleader asked and they all began to talk about it, Gabriella kept quiet. _It was probably a one time thing, no use in mentioning it._

* * *

"Dude we need to come up with some great stuff for the Knight-Cat war." Jason said as he flopped on to Troy's family room couch. He and Zeke had just arrived hoping to join in on Chad and Troy's usual Saturday shoot around, but Troy and Chad had opted for a break at that point in time.

"Yeah how about no more fights though." Zeke said pointing to his eye. It wasn't as swollen as the night before, but definitely bruised.

"Can't promise you that!" Troy emerged from the other room appearing rather angry.

"Dude, what's wrong?" Chad seemed concerned and interested at the same time.

"I have called Gabriella like five times in the past hour and I still have yet to hear from her!" He hollered at them. The other three tried hard not to laugh at Troy. _Troy Bolton? Desperate for a phone call?_

"Poor Troy." Chad said mockingly. "Did Jimmy Cooper give you a little threat last night?" Chad sensed that was who Troy was talking about when he mentioned another fight taking place.

"Screw that guy! He didn't do anything but slobber all over my girlfriend! He better watch his back that's all I have to say!" Troy roared, not even realizing how he had referred to Gabriella. His three best friends burst into laughter. "What? WHAT!?" Troy was puzzled and was becoming even angrier then before.

"You just called Gabriella your girlfriend." Zeke pointed out. "Ever plan on telling her that?" Troy was trapped. He hung his head down and mumbled.

"She might as well be!"

* * *

"So Gabriella, tell us what is your deal with Troy Bolton?" Anna asked. Gabriella nearly choked on her gulp of water. She had decided that due to her pre-cheerleading meeting fiasco, it was probably better that she didn't eat and only stick with water.

"My deal?" Gabriella repeated.

"Yeah! Like are you guys dating, do you just hook up, what's your deal?" Anna asked again, much more bluntly.

"Um, it's sort of complicated." Gabriella responded.

"No it's not." Sharpay snapped. "They love each other." _WHAT THE HELL DID SHE JUST SAY?_ Gabriella sat there mimicking everyone else's gapped jaw. "Well you do!" Sharpay turned her head to face Gabriella.

"Sharpay! We have a very strong friendship!" Gabriella found some type of defense, no matter how weak it ended up being.

"So you guys are just friends?" Sharpay narrowed her eyes, knowing the real truth even if Gabriella didn't want to admit it.

"Sharpay leave her alone, she says it's complicated, let's leave it at that." Christine spoke up. Sharpay crossed her arms and pouted. Christine smiled at Gabriella as everyone else started up new conversations. 'Thank you' mouthed Gabriella.

**I know this chapter was short and not my best, but it needed to be in here, it'll get better, PROMISE!! Review please!! (:**


	8. Life Keeps Getting In the Way

**Here we go!! Please keep reviewing this story!! Or just add to your alerts at least then I know people are reading it and want to read it!! Also anything that you want to see happen, please let me know! (:**

Gabriella waved good-bye as Sharpay sped off into the New Mexico sun. She had groaned when she saw Chuck's car in the driveway. She had noticed her phone had several missed calls from Troy, but she had no desire to talk to him at the moment. She felt tired and weak and at that moment just wanted to lie in her bed. She walked into the house trying to be as quiet as possible.

"Hey kiddo! Is that you?" She heard Chuck yell from the living room. She groaned again, one for being discovered and two for the unflattering nickname that Chuck had donned her with. She slowly paced into the kitchen that was adjourned to the living room where Chuck had settled himself in, cold beer in hand and college football on the television. Her mom was sitting at the kitchen table fiercely typing away on her laptop. Gabriella rolled her eyes at the sight. "Told ya that I heard her Mar!" Chuck laughed. _My mother's name is Maria, not 'Mar!' _

"So Ella, when were you going to tell me about the cheerleading squad? I found a Wildcat uniform in the dryer." Ms. Montez removed her glasses from the tip of her nose and stopped her clattering of the keyboard.

Gabriella shrugged. "It's kind of a weird story, but point is I found out yesterday afternoon that I was a cheerleader and just stayed after school until the football game."

"You already cheered in a game?" Gabriella couldn't tell if her mother was more surprised or hurt by the fact she was left out of this information.

"Sort of. I don't really know any of their cheers. I just stunted and did some tumbling." Gabriella replied quietly, even though she was sure that Chuck could hear every word.

"Hey kiddo, I'm going to throw some steaks on the grill soon! Heard they are your favorite." _What only good enough to pay attention at commercial breaks?_

"Actually I usually only eat them at Troy's house, and I'm not feeling well so I think I'm just going to go lay down." Gabriella said shortly.

"Speaking of, Troy called the house just a little while ago looking for you. Where were you anyways?" _This coming from the woman who before her meathead boyfriend came along, would've had the police out looking for me by now._

"I had a cheerleading meeting. I'm going to go take a nap." Gabriella turned on her heal and practically sprinted up the stairs. She hit her pillow and fell asleep.

Gabriella was awoken two hours later to a knock at her door. "Go away, I'm not hungry." She said into her pillow. The door opened anyways and she felt someone sit on her bed next to her. "Troy?" she asked sleepily, looking up to see Troy in his usual basketball shorts and tee-shirt.

"Shh Gabs. You can go back to sleep." He smiled so sincerely at her that she was almost convinced to do so, but then realized this was the first time they had talked like normal friends in almost 24 hours.

"No, I'm up!" She said slowly sitting up and leaning against her head board.

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for being so weird last night. I was just really thrown off by that fight with those West High guys." He lied. He looked at her as she bit her lip. He wanted so badly to hold on to her and kiss her and never let go of her.

"Its okay, Troy, but the cheerleaders told me all about the Knight-Cat war. Is that what it is going to be like all fall? We can't go anywhere without you guys fighting?" Her voice was scared, something Troy wasn't used to hearing. She could be timid sometimes, but never truly scared.

"I don't know Gabriella. West High kids are rough. It seems like they're always looking for a fight. The Knight-Cat war is just an excuse for them to actually do it." He thought so badly how he just wanted to take her in his arms, run his fingers through her hair, and reassure her that nothing was going to happen, not to her. _Baby, no one is ever going to touch you again._

"Okay. I just don't want some shmuck groping me again." She said half jokingly. She was trying to get Troy to loosen up, he seemed tense, like there was something he was keeping from her. She twirled the 'T' that hung around her neck. _Why won't you just kiss me? Why am I wearing this necklace if you don't want us to be together._

"Yeah that Jimmy Cooper better watch it!" Troy joked back. _I wish you were serious. I wish you had come out there faster. I wish you had saved me. _Gabriella sighed and focused on a new topic of discussion. They spent the rest of night talking and laughing about everything, except for their relationship, or lack there of.

* * *

The following Monday at school the East High students were greeted with a trail of blue dots painted on the sidewalk. The dots made a path through the doors and down several hallways where lockers had been painted blue. Select lockers. Jock's lockers. Gabriella giggled as some of the football players touched the freshly painted lockers that had yet to dry. The paint on their hands made them even more angry and the punched the lockers, more paint surfaced their skin. She was utterly impressed that the West High vandals were able to one, paint so many lockers, and two know where everyone's locker was. _They had to have gotten into the office or something. _Gabriella snickered quietly to herself as she reached her locker which was thankfully untouched. She opened it and began to organize her books as she noticed a note taped on the inside of the door. She carefully unfolded it.

**East High is red, West High is blue, I can't do anything, but think about you.**

**Sorry about the other night cutie. I was completely out of line, I was just blown away with how beautiful you are. Let me make it up to you sometime. **

**--Jimmy**

**p.s. I wouldn't let them paint your locker, you can thank me later. **

A cell phone number was printed at the bottom of the note. _Ew! This creep broke into my locker!_ "Hey Gabriella!" a familiar voice made her jump about a foot.

"Hey Tay." She replied catching her breath.

"You okay? You seem a little jumpy. Is it about the history test we have today? Because I know that I was freaking out all night about it and—" Taylor's ramblings were cut off by Gabriella.

"We have a test today? Oh my gosh we do! Tay I totally forgot to study!" Gabriella smacked her forehead with her hand and leaned back against her locker.

Taylor looked her up and down. "You? Gabriella Montez forgot to study for a test? What did you do all weekend?" Just then a group of cheerleaders walked by and waved at Gabriella. "Never mind." Taylor snorted and turned around, stomping off without waiting for Gabriella to go to homeroom.

"Tay, that wasn't it at all!" Gabriella whined, but Taylor was already to far down the hall to even hear her plea. The warning bell reminded Gabriella to hurry up and she sprinted down the hall just in time to make it into homeroom. Ms. Darbus was no where to be found though. She went to her desk in the back of the classroom avoiding eye contact with Taylor who was obviously ticked at her. Luckily, no one had really noticed her presence, everyone was to busy talking about the locker scandal. She slumped in her desk chair and pulled out her history notes. She was furious with herself for forgetting to study. She had gotten her homework all done on Saturday morning, how could she totally blow off studying? She felt herself starting to pout, even though that wouldn't do any good.

"What's wrong with you?" Troy asked her trying not to laugh. _She's adorable when she's mad._

"I forgot to study for my history test that I have second period." She mumbled, hardly looking up at him.

"Let me help." He offered, actually feeling somewhat confident in his history knowledge. "These your notes?" he asked picking up the piece of folded paper that she had carelessly placed on top of her texts.

"No, that's something I found in my locker this morning." She replied as she let Troy read the note.

"Gabs! Why didn't you tell me about this?" Troy was fuming.

"T-Troy I'm sorry. It's just a note from some creep who got into my locker. All a part of this wonderful Knight-Cat war, right? I just wanted to show Taylor and hadn't had a chance yet." She smiled. He didn't seem to calm down.

"This," He exclaimed crumpling the note in his hand. "Is _not_ a part of the war." He wasn't mad at her, not at all, yet he was taking everything out on her. She looked down at her notes and bit her bottom lip. "Gabs, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you." He apologized. She nodded but kept her eyes focused on her notes. "Seriously Gabs, those guys are bad news." He reiterated Saturday night's conversation.

Before Gabriella could protest to anything Chad grabbed the note out of Troy's hand. He had overheard their whole conversation and was growing more and more curious by the moment. He read over the note and then said, "Well this is new!" That was not exactly the reaction neither Gabriella nor Troy had expected. Chad caught on to their confusion. "I just mean that in the past, no one has cared if someone was…uh…'beautiful' or not. Cooper probably really had to convince them not to trash your locker Gabriella." Troy was a mix of emotions; angry, sad, confused. He went silent and Gabriella grew annoyed. The bell for first period rang and she snatched the note from Chad.

"Who cares about this stupid war anyways!" She ripped the paper into shreds and tossed it in the garbage can before storming out of the room.

* * *

By the end of the day Gabriella was incredibly worn out. She was sure she had failed her history test. Everyone in school was talking about the fight at Pizza Mama, and had somehow found out about the note in her locker. Some of the cheerleaders were mad at her because of their paint-stained clothes, and couldn't understand why her locker wasn't blue. Taylor wasn't talking to her, so that meant Chad wasn't allowed to talk to her. Kelsi was completely avoiding Taylor and Gabriella's quarrel, so she wasn't talking to either of them, and best of all Troy was in another weird mood, as he liked to call it, and hardly said more then two words to her every time he saw her. She couldn't believe how thrilled she was to see Sharpay at the end of the day. _Even if all she does is talk about herself, at least someone will talk to me._ The two girls were making their way outside to the track for practice, when they noticed a lot of whispering and pointing coming from the girls on the squad. The whispers hushed as they approached.

"What?" Sharpay sneered at all of them. _I never thought I would say it, but thank goodness for Sharpay._

"Well," Laura came out from behind the group. "We were just all curious why you two didn't get your lockers painted. The rest of us had to deal with wet paint all day." She snorted and Gabriella noticed Sharpay take a small step backwards. She looked to Christine for help, but it was evident that Christine was too interested in Gabriella's answer.

"Because some creep broke into my locker, left me a note, and supposedly told those West High jackasses not to trash my locker. So no, I didn't have to deal with blue paint on my stuff all day, but now I have a stalker." Gabriella answered hastily. The girls looked shocked, but Laura continued her questioning.

"And you?" She pointed a finger at Sharpay and placed her other hand on her hip.

"They probably didn't know I was on the squad, no thanks to you." She snapped back at Laura. Gabriella let a smile creep across her face and felt very proud of Sharpay for standing up to Laura.

"Come on girls, let's do our mile." Christine broke in and the rest of the squad followed her around the track. They went on with practice as usual. Sharpay and Gabriella were taught all of the cheers and chants, and then drilled by Coach Wendy, who seemed satisfied with their performance. Christine was announced as the new captain, and the girls squealed and hugged her. They stayed after to watch the football team practice, but Gabriella opted to go home early. _I can't afford to miss another studying day._ She headed to the locker room by herself and quickly changed. She made her way to her locker to gather her bag and books. As she removed her textbooks from their top shelf she saw a small piece of paper slowly tumble to the floor. She picked it up and read it becoming terrified.

**Hope to hear from you soon. You looked good at practice.**

**--Jimmy**

She looked around her, the halls of East High were silent. _Get your stuff and get out of here, if he saw you practice he might still be around._ She turned around only to smack right into someone who had been standing directly behind her. She was so scared that she dropped her bag and book that she had been holding. She shut her eyes tight, worried of who she was about to discover.

"Gabs? You okay?"

"Troy! Thank goodness!" She gasped jumping into his arms and tightening a grip around his neck. He nervously put his hands on her waist but was so grateful to be holding her.

"What's wrong?" She had never acted like this, not that he minded her grasping his neck. She handed him the piece of paper. He tried his best not to get as mad as he had that morning. "What is with this guy?"

"Persistency?" Gabriella suggested. She was feeling so much better that Troy was there she decided she could let go of him and picked up her things. He gave her a smile.

"Want a ride home?" He offered.

"I'd love one." She said. _There's my Troy. Oh no! Did I just say love?_

**What did you think guys? Let me know! R&R!!! (:**


	9. Bump the Competition, Blow Them All Away

**Sorry it's been so long! I am suffering major writer's block, and warning you now this chapter is nothing special. But I promise a better one is in the works! Please R&R! Thanks[**

Troy and Gabriella were causally joking about something that had happened in Ms. Drubs' class earlier that day when they stopped in their tracks. They were standing at the edge of the parking lot where they saw Troy's truck covered in toilet paper. _Wildcats SUCK!_ had been sloppily spray painted on the left side of the truck bed. Gabriella looked up at Troy, whose face was getting redder by the second.

"Come on Troy, let's clean this up." Gabriella grabbed his hand and led him to the truck. They put their backpacks in the front seats and then started to gather the toilet paper and threw it in the back of the truck bed. Gabriella grazed a piece of the toilet paper across the paint and watched it wipe away. "This paint is fresh." She whispered to herself.

"Hey sexy." She heard a voice behind her. She slowly turned to see Jimmy Cooper and what she could only assume to be more West High jerks.

She snorted and turned back to Troy's truck. Troy had jumped out of the bed at this point in time and stood right next to Gabriella and started to help her wipe away more paint. He had taken her lead and paid no mind to the West High group.

"What's a matter didn't hear me the first time?" Gabriella felt a hand on her shoulder. Her ignoring plan was not't working. She whipped around and grabbed Jimmy's hand and twisted it.

"I have a name you jackass!" She sneered through her teeth. Troy was now behind her, both his hands resting on her shoulders, starting to form a grip.

"And it's almost as beautiful as you are, _beautiful_." He smirked and started to lean into her. She let go of his hand and gave him a hard shove. She watched as Jimmy Cooper stumbled back into his three other friends.

"Come on Troy, let's go." She said, starting to walk around to the passenger side. Just then one of Jimmy's friend grabbed Troy by the shirt collar.

"You want to go Bolton?" The harasser spat. Troy pushed away the strong hand and tackled the boy to the ground.

"Troy, stop it!" Gabriella screamed as she ran around the front of the truck. She tried to pull Troy off of the West High jerk, but suddenly felt the strength of Jimmy Copper pulling her away.

He pushed her up against the hood of Troy's truck and whispered in her ear, "Forget him baby, he won't be there for you like I will."

"Jimmy get off of me." She started to shove him, but he grabbed her wrists and pulled her body into his.

"You know its true Gabriella. What would Troy Bolton want with you? If he doesn't want you now, what makes you think he'll want you later?" Gabriella stared deep into Jimmy's eyes. She let her wrists go limp and was completely speechless, almost like she was frozen in time. Just then Jimmy was being pulled away by his friends. They hopped into a nearby car and sped off. Coach Bolton had come out and broken up the fight. Gabriella shook herself out of her daze went over by Troy who was sitting on the sidewalk holding his bloody lip.

"Troy are-are you alright?" She started to put her finger up to his lip but he winched and turned away.

"I'm fine!" He snapped and put a hand up so she couldn't touch him.

"What did I tell you kids about fighting with the West High Knights?" Coach Bolton scolded Troy and Gabriella as he opened up a first aid kit and handed Troy a piece of gauze.

"It wasn't his fault Coach Bolt-"Gabriella started but Coach Bolton cut her off.

"Gabriella, I think you better find another ride home." He was stern, like the first time she ever met him. He had slightly warmed up to her because he believed that she was key to Troy's game, but at that moment she was to blame.

"Okay Coach Bolton. See ya Troy." Troy did not't even look up to see her get her bag out of his truck and start her walk home.

* * *

The next day at school Gabriella avoided Troy and vice versa so she tried her best to approach Taylor. She found her in the library during free period. 

"Tay, please talk to me." Gabriella whined as she followed Taylor up and down rows of encyclopedias.

"Gabriella, I don't speak cheerleader-ese and since when do you whine?" Taylor retorted.

"Since my best friend quit talking to me. Come on Taylor, I have so much to tell you." Gabriella pleaded as she sat down facing Taylor.

Taylor sighed and gave in. Gabriella told her everything that had happened with Jimmy Cooper and Laura and lastly Troy.

"You should date Jimmy Cooper." Taylor said finally.

"Taylor are you kidding me? He's a jerk!" Gabriella gasped that that was all Taylor had to say about Gabriella's stressful situations.

"Gabriella, Troy can't figure what he wants from you. Jimmy Cooper might be the only way for him to find out." Taylor's tone of voice convinced Gabriella that she was right.

* * *

"Troy, Troy, Troy!" Chad shook Troy out of his daydreaming stage and he shot a three-pointer only to air ball it. 

"Dude, what's your problem lately?" Zeke asked as he stood next to Troy, taking the same shot, except for fact that he actually made the basket.

"Those West High dudes need to get it good." As if on a cue Jason Cross burst into the gym.

"Guys come on come on!" He yelped waving his hands furiously in the air. Coach Bolton was in a teachers' meeting so the team followed crazy Jason out the back gym door and into the parking lot only to find the football team, cross country team, soccer team, and cheerleaders all gathered around something, or someone. The basketball team quickly joined the group only to see the infamous White Knight. White Knight was the name of the pure white horse that West High's mascot rode out on at each football game.

"Careful what you wish for Bolton." Chad laughed as he smacked his best friend's back.

"Man, I'll say." Troy stared as one of the linemen held onto the reigns.

"Coming through, excuse me." Troy heard a familiar voice behind him and watched as a short bouncy, brunette dashed past him. "Here, I found these." She presented the lineman with carrots.

"How about I hold him and you feed him?" The lineman suggested. Gabriella did as instructed and held up one of the carrots to let the horse munch on it. She started to stroke it's snout in a soothing downward motion.

"How-how- did you guys." Troy couldn't form the words because he was still so astonished by the sight. Others were making up for him and throwing out questions mainly at the football team. The lineman who was holding the reigns put up a hand for everyone to be quiet and Frank McCall, the starting quarterback for the wildcats, started to explain.

"Those West High Knights had it coming! Trashing our cars and yards is one thing, but our own school? And then starting fights with our basketball team," he respectfully pointed at Troy and the rest of the team who received many pats on the back and small sighs from the female portion of the crowd. "They've crossed the line this time, so we did something drastic, tonight we will return White Knight to the football field, but he will now be a _red_ Knight." Frank sneered, he was too cocky for his own good, but the Wildcats were utterly impressed at this point in time.

"How are you going to transport him?" Gabriella asked and heard some snickers around her.

"Oh darling, we got horse trailers, this _is_ New Mexico." The lineman who was holding the reigns replied kindly, trying not to make Gabriella feel foolish, but it was to late for that.

"What about paint?" Zeke spoke up. He had been towards the back but had somehow worked his way to the front and coincidentally next to Sharpay.

"Covered." Frank replied and snapped his fingers (literally) and five freshmen football players held up cans of paint and brushes. Every student's jaw was gaped, but only Troy was looking at Gabriella. Yesterday flashed through his head;

He had tackled that West High jock to the ground. He recognized him as Scotty Thomas. Scotty was starting center for the Knights, meaning he certainly had some height on Troy. Troy was throwing punches left and right and so was Scotty, but in a brief moment Troy caught a glimpse of Gabriella, shoved up against his truck. Troy wrestled with Scotty, mainly so he could attempt to save her. Suddenly it looked like she didn't need saved. At the beginning it seemed like Gabriella had put up a fight with Jimmy, but instantly stopped. What had Jimmy said to her? What made her back down? Then typical Troy had pushed her away, not wanting to know what had really happened and only could assume something from the pieces of the scene that he was able to see.

Troy continued to stare at her, and realized she was walking away, as were most of the students who were returning to their practices. The football team hauled White Knight into a horse trailer that was hooked up to one of their trucks. "Troy you coming?" Chad's voice called out. Troy turned and followed his teammates into the gym and Gabriella lingered watching him not even pay her any attention.

* * *

"Students! STUDENTS!" Ms. Darbus' voice shrieked so loud that the pencil holder on her desk fell over. It was Friday and Wildcat spirit was in the air. Not only had it been rumored that the cheerleaders had saran wrapped the West High cheerleaders' cars, but White Knight had been painted from mane to hoof in red, not an inch of white showed, at least not in the picture that the class was passing around. 

"Please sit down." Ms. Darbus demanded as she collected herself as well as her pencils. Gabriella passed the picture off to Sharpay who slipped it into her binder and took her seat in the back of the room. "Now I have a very important announcement, with homecoming quickly approaching the student government has asked that each senior writes down one male and one female that you would like to see represented on this year's homecoming court. The top ten will then be announced at tonight's football game. Now hurry up." She ordered, talking with her hands the whole time. Gabriella was sure she was the only one struggling, just like the time she had to vote for the cheerleading captain. _Taylor? No way, she hates this kind of stuff. She'd rather be valedictorian, can't blame her. Christine? Nope, she's only a junior. Sharpay will be on it for sure, she doesn't need my vote._ Gabriella scanned the room to see her fellow classmates scribbling down obvious names without thought. Her eyes landed on two people that she was upset had never even crossed her mind. She watched as Jason tapped Kelsi on the shoulder to show her his vote. She smiled and showed him hers. They looked so genuine, so sweetly in love. _**Kelsi Neison and Jason Cross **_Gabriella wrote and passed her slip to the front.


	10. Will I End Up On Top Again

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* * *

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Finally up!! The nest one will be much sooner! Thanks for being so patient! Keep reviewing and reading! )

"Mom! I'm home!" Gabriella proudly stated as she entered her front door. Regardless if Troy was speaking to her or not, the rest of the student body had been praising her all day for the leading the cheerleaders on a midnight embark of saran wrap and eggs. She credited Chad and Zeke with the idea, mainly because she overheard them talking about last year's Knight-Cat war.

"Up here Ella!" Her mom called from her room. Gabriella left her book bag in the front hall and made her way up the stairs. She had never seen her mother's bedroom in such shambles, clothes and shoes were spewed everywhere.

"Uh, Mom?" Gabriella had to laugh as her mother tossed a shoe out of the closet that apparently had no pair. She perched herself on her mother's bed and could only assume her mom was going away for the weekend on business. She was always notified on Friday mornings that she had to leave Friday nights and would be back Sunday afternoon.

Maria peeked her head out of her closet. "Hi Ella! Look I have to go to San Francisco for the weekend, but don't worry I'll be back –"

"Sunday afternoon." Gabriella finished. She smiled at her mom to let her know that everything would be okay. "Don't worry Mom; I can stay with Taylor or Kelsi."

"Oh not necessary honey, Chuck's going to stay here with you." Maria replied, not looking at her daughter's reaction. Gabriella's jaw nearly hit the floor. _Are you nuts?_ "I thought it would provide some good bonding time for the two of you." Maria said reassuringly.

"Whatever Mom. Have a nice trip. I have to go get ready for my game." Gabriella stormed out of her mother's room and left the house as soon as she could.

* * *

"GOOOOOO WILDCATS!" All of Albuquerque was at the East High stadium, that's what it seemed like anyways. The cheerleaders were warming up as well as the football team. Gabriella was in a full lib with Laura, Missy, and Sharpay all underneath her as Christine looked on.

"Okay Gabriella cradle! 1-2!" Gabriella came down nice and clean as always. Laura took her seat back in the stands. Coach Wendy was easing Laura back onto the squad, she was allowed to stunt and nothing else, for now.

"Hey Kiddo!" Gabriella heard Chuck's obnoxious voice behind her, she slowly turned. "Here ya go, have fun!" Chuck smiled holding out a cold Frost Blue Gatorade, Gabriella's favorite, over the fence.

She was surprised. She knew that they didn't have any Gatorade at their house, and she was sure Chuck had come straight to the game. "Thanks Chuck." She gave him a genuine smile. _Maybe he's not such a bad guy._ Gabriella watched him climb the stands and find a seat with Troy's parents who were only a couple rows up from Troy and company. Her eyes landed on Troy was chatting with Chad, and not even noticing her. Gabriella decided to ignore it and go into full cheerleader mode.

Half time came and the cheerleaders were eager to replenish themselves with drinks and snacks. Gabriella was sitting on the track with Christine and Sharpay munching on some peanut butter crackers when the announcer suddenly resumed his job. "Attention Ladies and Gentlemen, the East High Student Government has asked me to announce this year's homecoming court. For the King Nominees; Frank McCall." Applause and a screaming mother. "Chad Danforth." Even more applause, a kiss from Taylor and a large wave to the crowd. "Ryan Evans." Applause and a scream from Sharpay and a wave from Wiley the Wildcat; the mascot job that Ryan had taken over. "Lenny Dexter." More applause, and Gabriella giggled at the thought of the huge linemen that had been stealing horses only the day before. "And of course, last but not least, Troy Bolton." A swarm of applause came from every direction and Troy stood up in the stands high-fiving Zeke, Jason, and Chad. Gabriella could've sworn there was a bigger female audience cheering for Troy, but did her best to ignore it. She joined in on the clapping, but tried to act much more interested in her Gatorade. "And now for your Homecoming Queen candidates!" Suddenly Sharpay was squeezing both Christine's and Gabriella's knees and scrunching her eyes shut. The two had to control their laughter at such a sight. "First up, Sharpay Evans!" Sharpay jumped up into a group hug from the cheerleaders who were jumping up and down with her. Applause echoed through the stands, and 'Wiley' came over and gave Sharpay a hug. "Jody Smith!" Applause and a group of students hugging a tall girl. "Laura Winters!" The cheerleaders jumped up and down once again and Laura waved from the stands. "Kelsi Neilson!" Gabriella stood up and shrieked the loudest she was sure she could. She looked up at her group of friends who had engulfed a stunned Kelsi in a large hug. Gabriella waved up at them, even if Taylor was the only one who saw her and waved back, she was so happy for Kelsi. She was mid-bite of her crackers when she heard, "Last but not least; Gabriella Montez." Gabriella's eyes grew into saucers. _Did I hear him right?_ Her friends in the stands were waving at her and cheering, Chuck was flailing his arms in the air, almost taking out Mrs. Bolton, and she was suddenly mauled by the cheerleaders and Wiley. Sharpay was the one that had the hold on her and kept screeching in a high pitch, "We're gonna be Queens!" _Oh Sharpay, you're already a princess!_

The crowd calmed down and then got fired up once the football team got back on the field. The game resumed with the Wildcats holding a lead, 21-7. It was the last couple seconds of the game and Laura had come down to the track to do one last stunt. "Scorpion, got it Montez?" Laura instructed and Gabriella nodded. Sharpay was behind her and Christine was on her left side. She was in the air with no problem, smiling and cheering. Next thing she knew she was falling and her initial reaction was to catch herself. Luckily, Sharpay caught her underneath her arms like she was suppose to, but Christine and Laura had backed away and Gabriella's right ankle landed crooked. She heard the crowd gasp, so in true cheerleader fashion, Gabriella popped up and cheered, "Go Wildcats!" The buzzer rang out, signaling that the game was over. The fans began to file out and Gabriella limped over to the fence where Coach Wendy was with a first aid kit in hand, Chuck was quickly approaching.

"Sit down Montez." Coach Wendy instructed. Gabriella eased herself on to the track and Wendy lifted her right foot up on to her cheerleading bag for support. Her coach took her time examining Gabriella's ankle. "Well looks like a bad twist, possible sprain. I'll wrap it for you for now, but I would wait until morning and see if the swelling goes down. If it doesn't I would head into the E.R." Wendy continued.

"You alright, Kiddo?" Chuck was leaning over the fence, and his serious look of concern comforted Gabriella, much to her surprise.

"Yeah Chuck, it's just a twisted ankle, nothing a little ice can't fix." She reassured him. She couldn't help but notice the pain that was shooting through her foot, but she was doing her best to hide it.

"Well come on, I'll take you to the car." Chuck offered.

"Thanks Chuck, but I can drive, and I need to get some stuff from the locker room." Gabriella answered as Sharpay was pulling her to her feet.

"Okay Kiddo, see you at home then?" He didn't want to push it, this was the first time Gabriella had ever been decent to him.

"Yep!" She smiled at him and left her with her group of cheerleaders. Sharpay was holding Gabriella's hand as they made their way towards the field exit and a lot of commotion.

"God if you didn't want her on your squad just say so, you didn't have to drop her like that!" Chad's voice rang out. She saw her group of friends facing off with the cheerleaders.

"We didn't do it on purpose, it happens all the time!" Laura retorted.

"If it happens all the time then you're obviously not very good!" Taylor hollered. Gabriella let go of Sharpay and hobbled over to the crowd.

"Guys, knock it off!" She screamed pushing her way through with Sharpay at her heals.

"Well isn't this just precious." That sneer, that voice. Gabriella and the rest of her friends turned their heads to see a huge group of West High Knights, Jimmy Cooper of course leading the way. "Man, Montez more people around here care about you then I thought, right Bolton." He laughed. Troy's skin started to boil, and Gabriella watched Zeke clutch Troy's arm.

"What the hell is wrong with you Jimmy?" Everyone turned. Gabriella looked furious. She was so sick of everything that had to do with any of this, and she was sure Jimmy had something to do with the reason she was limping.

"Nothing Montez, not a thing." With that he motioned the rest of his West High gang and they walked away without ever looking back.

"Okay that was way too easy." Chad spoke up.

"Why would they just leave?" Missy asked.

"Oh my god!" Laura was pointing to the back of hers and Christine's knees where giant welts were quickly forming.

"Why were you guys playing with pea shooters?" Everyone turned and stared at Jason. _He would know what a pea shooter welt looked like._

"We weren't!" Snapped Laura.

"Those West High assholes!" Christine screamed. No wonder they had dropped Gabriella. She knew she had felt a sharp pain to her leg, but she didn't say anything right away, she thought that it was all her fault, when really it wasn't at all.

"Can we please just go home?" Gabriella pleaded. She had found her way to Taylor and was leaning on her shoulder.

"Yeah." Taylor patted Gabriella's hand. "I'm sorry we yelled at your ladies." Taylor turned towards Laura and Christine.

"It's okay Taylor, you were just looking out for your friend." Christine smiled and replied. Laura let out a snort, but no one really paid any attention to her.

Troy watched as Chad and Taylor both took a side of Gabriella and Zeke grabbed a hold of her duffle bag. She was so fragile, so delicate and yet he could tell that she was trying to walk by herself even though Chad was trying to lift her off the ground. He let out a quiet laugh as she tried to resist and get annoyed. Suddenly he felt an arm slip through his.

"Dammit Bolton. You should have her in your arms right now. When are you going to grow a pair and realize how much she needs you." He looked to his right to see Sharpay chatting away. _Is she really giving me advice right now?_ "Don't give me that look, go and show her that you actually care about her." Sharpay let go of Troy and gave him a shove.

* * *

"CHAD! You are making it worse." Gabriella scolded Chad as he clumsily tried to help her walk but instead he kept making her balance on her bad foot. Taylor had given up trying to help and was not rolling her eyes at her boyfriend.

"Okay well Gabriella you aren't really cooperating." Chad replied, just as he was plowed out of the way by his best friend. Troy wrapped Gabriella's arms around his neck and grasped her waist and back of her knees. He scooped her in one swift motion. She looked deep into his eyes, her stare almost tearing out his heart. He was sure that he saw tears forming in her eyes. _Is it the pain, or is it me?_

"Wow Troy, you've obviously done this before." Gabriella joked, ignoring the tears that she felt piercing the corners of her eyes. He laughed nervously and continued with her in arms and the rest of their friends to the parking lot, where of course the football team was fighting. To Gabriella, it looked like the entire football team and the group of West High students they had seen earlier. The West High girls were standing off to the sides cheering and shrieking as their respective boyfriends threw punches left and right.

"Those stupid sluts are leaning on _my _car!" Sharpay gasped and took off in a mad dash. Laura, Christine, Kelsi and Taylor tried to catch her but it was too late. Sharpay had begun a true girl on girl cat fight. It was her and the girl who had carelessly dropped an empty 7-11 cup in Sharpay's car. Laura and Christine were screaming at the other West High girls while Kelsi and Taylor were trying to pull Sharpay off of her victim. The boys followed suit, but headed for the football team instead, which seemed to be doing more damage then any fighter from West High. Troy set Gabriella down, but held her close. They both sat there and watched and without even realizing it, they both held each other by the waist and Gabriella buried her head into his chest. Gabriella noticed something unusual about this fight. It had no instigator. Nothing seemed to be vandalized, everything around East High was untouched. This gave her an eerie feeling. Chad was punched square in the mouth and interrupted Gabriella's thoughts. "Shit!" Troy murmured. Without recalling the last time this had happened he let go of Gabriella and started after his friend.

"Troy!" She screamed. Tears were streaming down her face now and she had no idea why.

"Gabs, it's okay. I'm sorry. Here sit on the curb." He helped her sit and pulled over her duffle bag that Zeke had discarded in all the excitement. He propped her foot up on her bag and grabbed her hand. "Gabs, nothing is going to happen, I just want this all to stop." He kissed her on the forehead and dashed off. She smiled. _Did that just happen?_ Despite the fighting, Gabriella couldn't help but feel giddy. She watched as the fighting was slowly starting to cease.

All of the sudden she felt a hand cover her mouth.


End file.
